PunjabiCanucks

They can't do that unilaterally.  It's built into the CBA.  Besides, I didn't see any of us complaining when the Canucks manipulated LTIR in 2011.

Players are not paid in the playoffs. Their last paycheques come at the end of the regular season.

Cap limit in PO isn't the answer,  it's widely speculated that the NHL is aware that some teams are 'manipulating' LTIR and are actively investigating ways to address this concern,  understanding that the owners/players themselves would be the ones to ratify any CBA changes. One proposed CBA change is that any player not activated during the regular season at least 'x' amount of time before the last regular season game automatically becomes ineligible for the 1st round of PO.  If this or some iteration of this idea was accepted it might help, but still won't solve the LTIR issue totally.